Amancio Ortega, the Spanish billionaire who founded the clothing giant Zara, was briefly the richest person in the world, topping Bill Gates.
Forbes’ real-time list of billionaires briefly showed Ortega at No. 1 on Thursday, notes Business Insider. The list showed that he was worth $79.8 billion.
However, by Friday morning, Gates regained his title as world’s richest person. The updated Forbes list has Gates’ net worth at $79.4 billion, while Ortega is now at $78.6 billion. Warren Buffett is in a ‘distant’ third with $64.6 billion. Carlos Slim Alou of Mexico is the fourth richest at $62.8 billion.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos climbed to No. 5 and is worth $53 billion, according to Forbes.
Ortega might not be that well known, but his Zara empire is, with stores around the world. He co-founded the company in 1975 and his Inditex also owns several other retail companies, notes The Huffington Post. He was born in 1936 and, according to his biography, he left school in his teens. Although he founded his company four decades ago, Zara has boomed in the past 10 years.